Stimulated Software Developers
Over 150 million Americans drink coffee everyday. That’s 50% of the country. Out of those, 1.5 million of them are software developers. How many of them do you think take Stimulants?
I don’t think I would be out of of line to say that the overwhelming majority if not the entirety of the Tech Workforce relies heavily on OTC stimulants. It seems odd to align coffee, tea ,or energy drinks in the family of stimulants. After chugging past daily safe recommendation of Caffeine intake, in order to meet a deadline, you should easily see why it is a classified stimulant.
Dark Details
In doing the research on coffee culture and caffeine in general, there have to be some things laid out in the open. The safe amount for human consumption, according to PubMed studies, is 400mg per day. A cup (8 fl oz.) of black coffee has on average 95 mg of Caffeine. That’s an allowance of 4 Cups or regular old joe.
The reality is that the rise of coffee house culture starting in the 90’s with the ‘Friends’ staple Central Perk, leading to the the Green spread of Starbucks into the 2000’s.Mixed with the integration of the Tech Revolutions power and portability, in the 2010’s, has led to a symbiotic relationship between boundary pushing, innovative people and coffee snobs.
That has resulted in Devs drinking and developing tons of coffee varieties, coffee products, and coffee additives. The same has applied to other stimulant delivery beverages as well, blowing up the Tea and Energy drink industries with millennials and Gen-Z-er’s(?). The most recent explosion of live streaming has again spurred the use of stimulants to a new demographic of ‘gamer-fuel’ guzzling adolescents.
Pick Your Poison
Working in the Software Engineering field, what exactly are we looking for in that certain choice of stimulant? Mental Focus, Endurance, Memory Retention, Creativity, etc. What we individually get out of stimulants can vary of course depending on your lifestyle and job requirements. Although it may seem like a lot to ask of a cup of tea or coffee but, no it is not just a placebo effect. Caffeine is considered a performance enhancing substance in many sports. The amount of adrenaline that can be produced can have a significant performance enhancing result.
Water is of utmost importance. From there we can move on to the fact that America drinks a pretty much equal amount of Soda and Coffee. These two choices both deliver stimulants. Sugar and Caffeine as their main ingredients, accordingly.
I don’t think most of the readers would disagree that Soda is incredibly unhealthy. Unless you have very unique fitness goals or parameters, soda should not be considered an option for the best caffeine delivery beverage. Yes the sugar would give you some temporary benefits but there are books written on the evils of processed sugars.
That leaves us with coffee, tea, and sugar-free energy drinks.
Caffeine Downsides
Since Caffeine is a drug, you can have a low or high tolerance, people can be affected differently, some can have uncomfortable or even dangerous side effects. After that 4th cup of coffee( or Venti Dark roast with 3 extra shots), you will start to feel ‘jittery’ and shaky. This is due to the increase in adrenaline.
Caffeine blocks adenosine which makes you feel tired but also increases your adrenaline, which gives the caffeine its performance enhancing properties. Consistent use can really throw your sleeping cycle out of whack and lead to pretty sever insomnia. As we all know lack of sleep can be hugely detrimental to all part of ours lives.
There are consequences for your Gut health from too much caffeine, but most of them are specific to people who suffer from GERD. The caffeine in itself does not cause any harm to the gut, although your choice in coffee or tea can change the amount of other ingredients you are ingesting.
Some other side effects of high doses of caffeine are increased heart rates, increased blood pressure, psychological addiction and frequent urination do to coffee’s diuretic properties.
Black Tea on the other hand only has 47 mg of Caffeine in an average cup. Matcha tea also contains around 50 mg of caffeine, but packs along Richdoses of Anti-Oxidants and the oh so useful L-Theanine. A smaller dose of the caffeine over a longer period of time may be the more appropriate way to extract the benefits.
For some people even 100mg of Caffeine may trigger caffeine-induced anxiety disorder. Caffeine Intoxication, Caffeine-Induced Anxiety Disorder, Caffeine-Induced Sleep Disorder, and Caffeine-Related Disorder NOS, are all recognized caffeine related syndromes in the DSM5, going to show how triggering it can be to some people.
Whats The Best Choice
Ultimately your choice will be based on preference and Lifestyle. In writing this blog I’ve realized that gathering all the data on the precise dosage, and listing additives and nootropics that can go into your daily cup of coffee, that there is a lot that goes in to your decision of how to take your caffeine. Someone should make some sort of App that can guide you through the process of finding the right way to caffein-ate your self…hmm?
I would start by:
Choosing your preferred caffeine delivery system: Coffee, Tea,Caffeine Supplement.
Find your average daily dose: 500 mg
Log the challenges you face through the day: Hands shaky? Stomach growling or gassy? Irritability?
Research your supplements: Lion’s Mane, L-Theanine, MCT Oil, Alpha-GTC,Taurine, Yerba Mate, Cacao Powder, Beta-Caryopholene.
Adjust Dosage and reassess!
Some devs are the type to code long into the night with no rest, extreme in how they go about things. Other devs have many fingers in many different pies throughout the day and have to manage their energy in order to have the will to drop into a project at the end of a busy day. Whatever the case may be embrace your ritual of caffeine, put some more care and thought into what you and the other 1.5 million devs in your industry are drinking.
SOURCES
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-23/what-made-coffeehouse-culture-go-boom
